Turkish Energy Minister banned from to landing in Iraq December 4, 2012 - 19:28 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - A plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz to an energy conference in Iraqi Kurdistan was denied permission to land on Tuesday, December 4 by the central government in Baghdad, a Turkish energy ministry official said, according to Reuters. The plane, which was en route from Istanbul to the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, was forced to land in Turkey's Kayseri, southeast of the capital Ankara, the official said. The plane would not seek permission to land again and the minister would now not attend the conference, the official said. It was not immediately clear why the minister's private aircraft had been denied permission and officials in Baghdad were not immediately available for comment. Ties between Ankara and Baghdad have been strained for the past year since Shi'ite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the arrest of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, based on allegations that he ran death squads. Turkey is now giving sanctuary to Hashemi. Partner news  Top stories Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander, led Argentina during the bloodiest days of its Dirty War dictatorship. According to the United Nations, April was Iraq's bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed. Reports suggest the rebel fighters may have tried to blow up the walls of the prison, which holds some 4,000 inmates. Moscow has condemned other nations for supporting rebel forces and failing to condemn what it describes as terrorist attacks on the Syrian regime.   Partner news |  Latest news Artsakh President attends Berdzor town 21st anniv. liberation events  Bako Sahakyan noted the liberation of Berdzor town as an important military, political and psychological victory.Weekly digest of foreign currency deals Deals amounting to USD 12,800,000 at an average price of 416.75 /USD 1 were concluded at NASDAQ OMX Armenia.200 Azeri ceasefire violations reported May 12-18 200 ceasefire violations by the Azeri armed forces were reported at the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.Serzh Sargsyan reelected as Armenian Chess Federation president Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was reelected to the post of the president of RA Chess Federation for 4 more years. |
